The Bistro at Ten Acres — Restaurant in Stowe

As a Stowe local, I drive past this place every day on my way to work. After years of admiring the view near the patio, I finally buckled down and pulled into the Bistro spontaneously. The host found us a nice table on the patio with a great view of the mountains (see photo).

We were given a QR code with a WiFi password but my phone still had trouble connecting so an old school physical menu was offered to me by our server. She was very polite and knowledgeable about the menu. I ordered a glass of Nebbiolo for myself and a Cabernet for my girlfriend (clos du val - $17 per glass). Our server informed us that they were out of the Cabernet we requested and even brought us a sample of something else to try. It was quite wonderful so we told her that would be fine.

After our meal when the check was presented, we were starkly confronted with the realization that the wine offered to us was priced at $30 a glass. Good wine is worth paying for but I would have at least liked a heads up on the steep change in price between the wine that was ordered and the wine that was served. It’s not that I can’t afford to pay for a nice glass of wine. I work very hard between my two jobs to make a comfortable living so that I can enjoy a nice meal out every once and a while . It is more the principal that we should have been informed of the difference in price especially when there were at least five different Cabernets that could have been substituted. I talked to some of my friends who work in the service industry about this and they were appalled. Apparently the proper restaurant etiquette is to either 1. offer the new wine at the price of the first or 2. inform them of the difference (keep in mind our menus were no longer on the table so we could not readily evaluate the price change). They must have added the $17 glass to the bill, then consciously replaced it with the new glass that was almost double the price. At no moment did any sense of ethical responsibility kick in. Maybe they were too busy. Maybe they didn’t care enough. Either way I was deeply hurt. Again, it’s not about the money. It’s about the principal.

I didn’t mention anything to our server because she was truly nice and during our meal I was under the impression that she had our best interest at heart. I would have easily returned multiple times as a local Stowe resident. Now as I drive past the Bistro on my way to work, I nod my head in disappointment. The memories that could have been. The protein that could have been consumed. The stories and laughter that could have been shared at the dinner table with my incredibly wealthy and gratuitous parents. Let this be a lesson in morality and human compassion.

P.S. I still tipped 20% despite what I felt like was a severe injustice. The food was also delicious but the taste I left with in my mouth was...

My husband and I dined here on a Monday night. I had made the reservation months in advance for an outdoor table, but earlier the day of called and spoke to a woman who said they'd easily be able to seat us inside since it was cold outside. When we arrived and noted the change, the owner asked who we spoke to and then told us we could dine inside if we were out in 90 minutes, which was a little odd but we didn't plan to be there for that long so it was fine. We were then seated in one of the few tables that is right against a wall (most are next to windows) even though there were open tables nearby. The waitress was really nice and service was good. The drinks and food, on the other hand, were underwhelming and overpriced. The cheese plate was good, but the filet mignon with vegetables was incredibly bland. The steak didn't taste seasoned and the green beans and asparagus were steamed with no other flavors added. To add insult to injury, the open tables near the window sat open throughout our entire meal. And there were other open tables as well, so I'm not entirely sure why we had a time limit...

Terrible experience here - on a Sunday night, my family came in to an almost empty restaurant - there were two other families dining in a pretty large space. The host didn't even look us as she mumbled something, when we asked her to clarify, she was asking if we had a reservation. When we said no, she sighed, looked at the seating chart and walked around the entire restaurant as if to see if there was any possible place she could seat us (for reference, there were easily 30 open tables). She finally was able to seat us in an empty room (while there were three other completely empty rooms of no diners). Then she had to be prompted by the server to bring us water and bread. The server took about 10 minutes to get to us. They were very busy discussing their weekend plans, how much they put down for a down payment on something and other chit chat as they talked with the cook.) Food was passable, but should have just...